Steps to Register and Apply for the MBDA Business Center Grant

Blogged By:

Cynthia Rios

Cynthia Rios with the Minority Business Development Agency provides information on the steps an organization must take to register to apply for the MBDA Business Center grant.

All grant applications must be submitted to MBDA electronically through Grants.gov, the federal government’s storehouse for information and access to the thousands of federal grant programs and opportunities.

Before you can submit a grant application to operate an MBDA Business Center through Grants.gov, you must register with three different entities.

These three different entities are Dun and Bradstreet, the Central Contractor Registry and Grants.gov.

The Dun and Bradstreet number is used as the best way for the federal government to identify and track organizations and companies that receive grants through federal government programs.

If you do not have a Dun and Bradstreet number, the CFO, grant administrator or authorizing official at your organization will need to register by either visiting the Dun and Bradstreet[1] website or by calling the Dun and Bradstreet Government Customer Response Center at 1-866-705-5711.

Generally, if requested over the phone, a D&B number is provided immediately. Online requests typically take 1-2 business days.

Next, you need to register in the Central Contractor Registry (also known as the CCR). The CCR is a government-wide registry for vendors doing business with the federal government. Grants.gov uses the CCR to establish roles and identification for those organizations that apply for grants electronically.

Before registering with the Central Contractor Registry you should make sure that you have your Dun and Bradstreet number, you will need it for this step.

You also need to ensure that you have an Employment Identification Number (EIN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) from the IRS. Next, visit CCR online and click on the “Start New Registration” link.

From there, just follow the instructions and answer all questions to complete your registration. You will need to designate an “Electronic Business Point of Contact.” This is the person in your organization who will become the sole authority to designate, or revoke an individual’s ability to submit grant applications as an Authorized Organization Representative on behalf of the organization through Grants.gov[3].

It takes approximately three to five business days for your CCR registration to become active, so build that time into your application process.

Finally, once your organization is registered with Dun and Bradstreet and the CCR, you need to go to Grants.gov to register as an Authorized Organization Representative.

This is the final step and you will not be able to submit an MBDA Business Center grant application until the Electronic Business Point of Contact has completed the authorization of your Grants.gov profile.

It is critical that the same individual designated as an Authorized Organization Representative be the one who submits the grant application. Failure to do so may nullify the application in the submission process.

To avoid delays, MBDA strongly recommends that applicants start early and not wait until the approaching deadline date to complete the necessary registrations.

For further information, and step by step user guides on the three registration processes, please visit grants.gov[3].